Personally, I wouldn't buy one for home, because I find that being hunched over a big luminous surface gets really tiring on my eyes after only an hour or so. The nice thing about an Intuos is that you can sit further from the screen. I don't notice the same issue with my tablet PC, I think because the screen doesn't fill my whole field of vision. I can draw on my tablet for hours just fine.

For that kind of money, I'd get a big Intuos 4 and a 2560x1600 30" monitor and keep the change

(I do have a 30" monitor, and I love love love it.)_________________brian.prince|light.comp.paint

Can I throw a follow up question in light of the replies... Have you guys noticed that you get any benefit from working on a Cintiq when compared to a traditional tablet?

A Cintiq or TabletPC is going be a little nicer for doing sketching and line-work than an Intuos, but about the same for painting.

Keep in mind that with a Cintiq, the place where your stylus touches the glass isn't exactly in-line with where your stroke is going to be, because the Wacom sensor actually sits behind not only the glass, but the LCD itself. So there will always be a 1-2mm gap between where your nib is and where the software is actually drawing pixels. You can calibrate the drivers to minimize this effect, but it always present to some degree. This means that for fine line work, even on a big Cintiq, you will probably need to zoom in a bit in Photoshop/Painter to make sure your strokes are going in exactly the right places.

Wacom-powered tablet PCs are nice because you can paint while relaxing on the couch although they aren't great for doing really high-res work (because they tend to be 1280x800 res)._________________brian.prince|light.comp.paint

I had a Cintiq 21UX at my old work, I only used it directly occasionally, its a bit quicker for doing organic drawing on, the main issue I had with the thing was the colour performance, the 24 inch version is said to be vastly improved in that area. I agree with balistic its a bit draining hunched over a glowing tablet.
For drawing i think i just want to use pencil on paper more often actually, only takes 2 secs to scan it, best of both worlds!

I would only get one if money is literally falling out your pockets and burning holes left right and center haha. Its not a necessary investment for your art or your career, a Wacom/tablet of some form and semi-decent display is all you need to be doing top end work._________________www.tenglandsketchbook.blogspot.comwww.thomasengland.co.uk

I have cintiq 12WX at home and I must say that while drawing on display is good and all that, but the display quality in 12" is not very good. Meaning that I still need a second monitor to check the colors. Good thing about 12" is that it's portable.

Leaning over the tablet is not very ergonomic so I also have Ergotron LX arm and I really recommend it if you are going to buy a cintiq.

Cintiq 21UX. I borrowed one at work from a college and after I had used it for one day I didn't want to give it back. Display quality in 21UX is top notch and it's much better over all than 12WX. Ergotron LX also seems to work also with Cintiq 21.

Cintiq 24HD. I haven't had the change to this one, but one thing that bothers me is that you can't rotate it. It might, or it might not be a problem for you, but for me at least the ability to rotate is important. Even though you can rotate canvas in software I still prefer the physical thing, but that's just a personal preference. Another thing, like mentioned above is that you have to work in very uncomfortable position.

Conclusion:
If I could now go back in time with this knowledge, which of these three cintiqs would I get or would I just save my money for something else?

1. If you want to use your cintiq only at home, then I would choose 21UX paired with Ergotron LX. Even though 21" is very expensive, I would still invest to it.

2. If you travel a lot, and you want to take your cintiq with you, then I would choose 12" paired with Ergotron LX.

Anyhow, I found a store in my city where they have the 24" Cintiq available for trying it out. So it looks like I'm heading there on friday to do a hands on test. Also, with the feedback you guys provided I should be able to make an informed decision easily.

If you're looking at Wacom-enabled tablet PCs, you should also check out the Samsung Series 7 Slate. It's generally considered to be a little nicer than the Asus slate, and it's fully Photoshop/Zbrush/Painter compatible.

I love my old tablet PC, but I would just re-iterate: they aren't the best for doing mega-high-res finished work because of the low-res screens they have (mine is 1440x1050, but I don't think anybody makes them that res anymore). The screen on the Samsung Slate does, however, have really good color and viewing angles, because, like the Asus, it's an IPS display, instead of the TN you get on most laptops.

If you were choosing between a tablet PC and a 12" Cintiq, I would absolutely go for the tabPC, because, like I mentioned before, it's great to be able to sketch on the couch, or at a bar Also, you can get a brand new one for around $1200 US, which isn't much more expensive than the 12" Cintiq.

You could also get an older, used convertible tablet PC (the kind with a keyboard attached). Lenovo, Toshiba, and Fujitsu all make good ones with Wacom sensors inside, and if you can live with only a couple gigs of RAM and a Core2 Duo, you can find them for around $400 in good condition. They're MUCH heavier than the new Asus/Samsung slates though ... like 2.2 kg. Mine makes my arm sore after a while _________________brian.prince|light.comp.paint

If you're looking at Wacom-enabled tablet PCs, you should also check out the Samsung Series 7 Slate. It's generally considered to be a little nicer than the Asus slate, and it's fully Photoshop/Zbrush/Painter compatible.

I love my old tablet PC, but I would just re-iterate: they aren't the best for doing mega-high-res finished work because of the low-res screens they have (mine is 1440x1050, but I don't think anybody makes them that res anymore). The screen on the Samsung Slate does, however, have really good color and viewing angles, because, like the Asus, it's an IPS display, instead of the TN you get on most laptops.

If you were choosing between a tablet PC and a 12" Cintiq, I would absolutely go for the tabPC, because, like I mentioned before, it's great to be able to sketch on the couch, or at a bar Also, you can get a brand new one for around $1200 US, which isn't much more expensive than the 12" Cintiq.

You could also get an older, used convertible tablet PC (the kind with a keyboard attached). Lenovo, Toshiba, and Fujitsu all make good ones with Wacom sensors inside, and if you can live with only a couple gigs of RAM and a Core2 Duo, you can find them for around $400 in good condition. They're MUCH heavier than the new Asus/Samsung slates though ... like 2.2 kg. Mine makes my arm sore after a while

That's a very good point.
-With 12" cintiq you have to carry bunch of cables and a power module so if you want to draw with it you have to have an power outlet nearby.
-Since the display quality is not so good in 12" anyway, you might be better off with tablet PC. The downside with tablet is that you are tied to the hardware in that laptop, where with cintiq it's just an extra display that you can attach to any computer.

personally ive never tried Cintiq and I dont think id be interested of it due price. Not only that, also the components improve and go away as outdated as for hardware inside and displays alone. As someone said, buying x-large intuos 4 and large screen is better investment (which i did a year ago) Unlike eventual Cintiq that you have stick to the outdated screen and added expense for extra hardware to get the thing going on.

re tablet PC, it is much better buy. Im sure it will come larger screens with support for digitizer. You get good display and hardware inside. no hassle of cables, plus very Portrable!

Asus released big amount of products that might interest some artists. AIO all in display 20" touchable screen, Transformer Books, Tablet 810 (with support for digitzer and Windows .

Im eyeing for 14" Transformer Book to complete or replace another Asus Transformer Prime 10" that I use currently. I miss the possibility to use PS cs6 Though Sketchbook for Android is good app.

I can wait a bit when more manufacturers release more, bigger screens with support for digitzer.

I got to try the 24" Cintiq last week and it was absolutely fabulous to work with. I did a 30 minute painting test with it and could not come up with anything negative about it except the size... well and the price.

I'm really keen to jump to painting on the screen from using a tablet, but 30kg:s of cumbersome tech on the small table that I paint at is not okay. I have a few tips from Wacom EU where I could possibly try the 21" Cintiq in Helsinki, but as Tomasis pointed out the technology is getting old already. I still want to see it & try it though.

I'm really anxious to change the way I work, but I'm starting to think that waiting 6 months or so might not be a bad idea.

@Tomasis: The ASUS eee-slate was never an option luckily, I just was not aware that there was already more options available. I took a look at the new ASUS products, looks really promising.

Yeah, I think the Intel/stylus version of the Surface will beat the Samsung Slate for art, since it's got full 1920x1080 resolution. Should be nice for painting, as long as PS and Corel can read the pressure data (they don't specify whether it's a Wacom sensor)._________________brian.prince|light.comp.paint

I tried one for about a week at my old work. Although it was nice for line work I found the drawing position weird. Just couldn't get comfortable with it and my neck and shoulder got really sore (even tried attaching it to a desk arm). Not to talk about the heat radiating of it. Couldn't see the benefit for painting._________________http://pringleart.com

Yeah, I've been using that 22HD at work for some time now and I can say that it's the best of them all. The stand is crappy, but fortunately you can use ergotron LX desk mount. I used it couple days without desk mount and my neck was screaming after that.
Buttons on the side are good and there are enough of them to fit my needs.
Touchbars has always been annoying in Cintiqs because you always accidentally swipe them, but in 22HD it's actually in a very good place. Also if you still accidentally touch it, you can use the toggle button to toggle between 4 possible settings. I have it set to "disabled/brush size/disabled/brush size" so that I can toggle brush size on and off.